Day is done

Whew, another manic day. I'm trying to get out of here pretty quickly: I had intended to take a yoga class tonight, but I'm so tired (body not adjusted to the early morning schedule yet) that I may pass this week, try again next. It's very hard for me to put my own physical, psychological and emotional needs first, even though I know how important it is. So it's a toss up: which do I need more, a new physical activity or sleep? I'll ponder this dilemma on the way home, but right at the moment, the idea of an evening of sloth and early bed is awfully damned tempting.

Today started with a demitasse of guilt: I almost never check my voice-mail, but I did this morning--and got a message that the "retention pool" (an administrative paperwork hoop required by the adjunct union) was due yesterday. And it was still sitting on my desk. Last night, I'd realized I'd made an error on one portion of the paperwork, so, thinking I had time to spare, I decided I'd fix it this morning. Which, in fact, I did, just with a greater sense of urgency than I'd have felt otherwise--and I offered abject apologies to anyone concerned for being late with it. No harm, no foul, I'm sure, but when one is asked to handle something, it's a good idea to read the instructions to find out when the damned thing is due.

I finished that task just in time to run to Advisement. When I first arrived, I thought, "Oh, good! It's quieted down significantly"--and in fact, it had, but students still arrived in waves (rather large ones), so although I could nip away at some of my own paperwork, I had to continually stop for a few students, start up, stop again and advise a few more, and so on.

When I got back to the office and checked Banner, enrollment has shifted yet again. I gained one more student in Nature in Lit (and just heard from Paul that another is trying to decide between his class and mine: they're both open and both meet at the same time); I lost two in Native American Lit. They were two of the ones I said yesterday wouldn't make it. I thought they might hang in a little longer--but then again, I did see them looking at the first handout of readings and making ooky faces over the number of pages.... Just as well they're gone. Of course, the enrollment may have shifted yet again by tomorrow morning, but I'll just keep checking and trying to keep up with it.

I still didn't have a full house in 102. There were two new students (one new registrant, one who was on the roster from the beginning but hadn't been in class); one who was there Monday is no longer enrolled, and a few were just AWOL. But the class went pretty well today. The students who didn't have their readers with them were sent off to get them--and in a highly unusual move, I actually did go through the reader, explaining the parts, to those who were there and prepared. Then I started reading the first story aloud, had them annotate their texts and get ready for ideas to put in their reading journals. I'm not sure how successful that part was, but they were already getting the idea of the kinds of reactions that I want in journals--and getting the idea that I don't want them to use the journal/log to ask a question they already have answered on their own.

Given the nature of the process (early in the semester, working with the whole class, not the comfort of small groups), a surprisingly large number were willing to talk, which was nice--and they were making good points. And bonus for me: I'm already learning some of their names. Of course, one acted a bit put upon that they are required to read the entire rest of the story (all 7 pages) and do a journal/log on it by Monday; I could tell on Monday she's going to be a problem child. She's already pulling the "I don't have time to do these assignments; I have to work" card. Pretty soon I'll tell her, "You need to make a choice. If you can't keep up with the work of the class-and if you can't get here on time--you need to withdraw and take the class some other time." She'll resist that, but I'll just be as clear as I can be that she can't complain about the work and expect it to change just because it's hard for her schedule. Either stay in the class, show up on time, and do the work on time, or get out. That simple. But as for the rest, I feel less worried about them after today; they were distinctly less lumpy than they were on Monday. Maybe by mid-semester, I'll be writing about how I have to haul them out of the chandeliers.

Blah. I'm done for the day. I can't even sort through my desk to be sure I'm ready for class tomorrow; I'll have to pull myself together as well as I can in the morning and hope it's good enough. Gawd, I can't even think about this any more. I'm going home.